Laverne Cox Criticizes '60 Minutes' Report On Detransitioning, Calling It 'Dehumanizing'

Actress Laverne Cox has criticized a 60 Minutes report on transgender healthcare.

The report from correspondent Lesley Stahl aired on Sunday, May 23.

Stahl looked at the growing transitioning industry. Several of the people she interviewed regretted transitioning.

“I said in 2014 … when we focus on surgery and transition with and about trans people, it objectifies trans people and that is fundamentally dehumanizing,” said Cox in a video released on Instagram. “I do not believe that has changed in 2021. What I witnessed in the 60 Minutes segment is that.”

“It's about our existence, about whether we get to exist in [a] public space as our authentic selves,” she said. “Seeing debates about that, the both sides thing. … All of this conversation is fundamentally dehumanizing. [It's] medicalizing trans existence and pathologizing trans existence when you talk about us merely in the context of healthcare.”

Stahl defended her report in a 60 Minutes Overtime segment.

“This week on 60 Minutes, we reported on the healthcare challenges facing the transgender community. And we introduced some people who are called detransitioners, these are people who are choosing to reverse the process. And their point is that they were not getting proper healthcare. That was their point. That's the point we wanted to emphasize – that these were young people who were not getting proper healthcare advice. After everything. After all our conversations, we still feel that that's something important to put out there.”

Dr. Marci Bowers, a world-renowned gender reassignment specialist who transitioned in the 90s and the subject of the documentary Sex Change Hospital, criticized the proliferation of gender clinics, saying that the standards they use might not be as high as her own.

In the original report, Stahl spoke to a young man who had his testicles removed three months after going on hormone treatments when the current guidelines call for continuous use for one year. Another woman said that she began transitioning after only “a few” sessions with a therapist.